Passengers are stuck at sea after Norwegian cancels a cruise midway

Passengers on board a Norwegian cruise ship are stuck at sea this week after the cruise line decided to cancel the cruise midway due to covid-19 concerns.

Aimee Focaraccio, who embarked on a 10-day cruise on Norwegian Gem from New York, told USA Today that she was notified on Thursday that the cruise would be canceled due to problems related to COVID-19, but that she did not receive an early return date.

“We will arrive according to schedule on the morning of the 19th,” said cruise ship personnel, according to a recording Focaraccio gave the news channel.

Focaraccio detailed that after the ship made a stop in St. Maarten on Friday, it would not make any other stop at ports or islands.

“I really can not imagine four more days at sea back to back without much to do,”[ads1]; she told USA Today.

She also added that the ship earlier on Friday made the decision to waive port calls in Grand Turk, St. Thomas and Tortola before it arrived in St. Maarten and before the decision was made to cancel the rest of the stops.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s senior vice president of branding and communications, Christine Da Silva, told USA Today that Norwegian Gem was scheduled to return to New York “shortly” without giving a specific date.

“As we continue to navigate the floating public health environment, while focusing on delivering a safe experience for all on board, today we made the difficult decision to cancel Norwegian Gems’ current Caribbean sailing, due to covid-related circumstances,” reported Da Silva. so.

Despite the cruise line’s claim that “COVID-related circumstances” were the reason for canceling the voyage, Focaraccio told USA Today that she was not made aware of cases of coronavirus on the ship.

All passengers on Norwegian Gem were allegedly given a full refund or cruise credit and an extra cruise credit corresponding to 50 percent of the current travel price to be used on a future cruise by May 2023.